Cartagena Reports

[Nypher]

I had kids jump on my carriage ride and ask for money. .

JAJAJAJA.

That's when they get you LOL. When you pay for something and are stationary that's their chance to pounce because they know you can't go anywhere. That's getting the cabanas at the beach, carriage rides, a window seat at a restaurant, and especially sitting outside at restaurants its constant "tengo hambre" all throughout your meal. I made so many mistakes on my first trip years ago, I'm still laughing at myself for doing certain things.

Its best when I get a Colombiana from the barrios and she's shuts them down with some slang I make sure to see if they are available every time I arrive.

Were all there to enjoy our vacation, not to be harassed LOL.

[Nypher]

Is this a practice by hustlers in Cartagena?

I can assure you it will, especially at Playa Hollywood.

At the beach the massage ladies and trinket sellers will harass you the most. If you're on foot walking around, you can avoid but if your stationary it will be a nuisance.

From a personal experience with the massage ladies, I'm on the beach sitting down waiting for food. Ladies comes by offers massage I tell them no, they insist on touching me, I tell them no, they proceed to put that sticky gel stuff on my legs, I still tell them no. This goes on for 10 minutes at a time. I've now learned from my chicas instead of saying "no tengo dinero" to say "no tengo plata" or "tengo mucho". Saying "no" or "no gracias" does not work. Another tactic is the runner who takes my order and brings me the food and drinks ill give them an extra 20 K and tell them keep all touts away from me while I'm sitting there.

This is my experience from that beach at a stationary location.

Now if your on foot in Centro you can keep it moving while either ignoring them or telling them no, sooner or later they will walk off. Sunglasses is good as it breaks eye contact. Some of these things you can easily get used to and dial it in as background noise.

[AmorPorFavor]

Nah, you just ignore them and they go away. Its just anytime you walk around them, they follow you around tying their hustle. They even whistle at each other letting the others know a potential customer is walking by, then the next guy comes up to you. The young kids will do their rap songs loudly in front of you and ask for a tip, some will ask for a beer. Guys will follow you into the club trying to be a guide, this is where I lost it and almost got into it. I am not allowing any man to follow me like that. I had a guy try to jump in my cab and be my guide, had to get into an argument with him and kick him out. I had kids jump on my carriage ride and ask for money. Its all just very very annoying stuff I don't deal with to this level anywhere else, even in Sosua it was not this bad. I really don't see myself ever returning to Cartagena. It's a shame because the historic district is really beautiful.

I understand they are people, but I will not allow their problems to become mine, you cannot show them any level of kindness. They will see it as weakness and just try and further hustle money out of you.

The situation is a lot worse post covid shutdown. I was there Jan 20 and then Jan 22. Must have been 4-5 times as many touts in 22. The people got hit hard by the tourism shutdown and are more desperate now. If it ever gets back to the way it was it is tolerable.

[MongerHunger]

Nah, you just ignore them and they go away. Its just anytime you walk around them, they follow you around tying their hustle. They even whistle at each other letting the others know a potential customer is walking by, then the next guy comes up to you. The young kids will do their rap songs loudly in front of you and ask for a tip, some will ask for a beer. Guys will follow you into the club trying to be a guide, this is where I lost it and almost got into it. I am not allowing any man to follow me like that. I had a guy try to jump in my cab and be my guide, had to get into an argument with him and kick him out. I had kids jump on my carriage ride and ask for money. Its all just very very annoying stuff I don't deal with to this level anywhere else, even in Sosua it was not this bad. I really don't see myself ever returning to Cartagena. It's a shame because the historic district is really beautiful.

I understand they are people, but I will not allow their problems to become mine, you cannot show them any level of kindness. They will see it as weakness and just try and further hustle money out of you.

You must look like a target for money and tips. I've had a few touts try to sell things but nothing as extreme as your experiences.

[RamDavidson84]

I have decided that all my post covid trips are to be on a beach. I have already done Tobago and Boca Chica. I have Jaco, Cancun and Cartagena in my sights. I have never been to Cartagena and have read about the persistence of the hustlers / touts. I have dealt with such people in my trips and have more or less succeeded in ignoring them. However, from my readings it seems that the hustlers / touts in Cartagena are probably the worst in the world. I sympathize with them as I understand that they are poor and just trying to earn a living. However, if they are not peddling something I want then I'm not interested and that has been my attitude everywhere I go. I can successfully navigate my way around them no matter how persistent they are; however, there is one thing I just cannot tolerate and would make me lose it and that is if I am touched by the tout while I am ignoring him. It has happened to me (though very rarely) and when it does I am challenged to the limit to control myself. I would not like to experience an occasion when the blood goes to my head and I react violently. Is this a practice by hustlers in Cartagena?

Nah, you just ignore them and they go away. Its just anytime you walk around them, they follow you around tying their hustle. They even whistle at each other letting the others know a potential customer is walking by, then the next guy comes up to you. The young kids will do their rap songs loudly in front of you and ask for a tip, some will ask for a beer. Guys will follow you into the club trying to be a guide, this is where I lost it and almost got into it. I am not allowing any man to follow me like that. I had a guy try to jump in my cab and be my guide, had to get into an argument with him and kick him out. I had kids jump on my carriage ride and ask for money. Its all just very very annoying stuff I don't deal with to this level anywhere else, even in Sosua it was not this bad. I really don't see myself ever returning to Cartagena. It's a shame because the historic district is really beautiful.

I understand they are people, but I will not allow their problems to become mine, you cannot show them any level of kindness. They will see it as weakness and just try and further hustle money out of you.

[RacShack]

I have decided that all my post covid trips are to be on a beach. I have already done Tobago and Boca Chica. I have Jaco, Cancun and Cartagena in my sights. I have never been to Cartagena and have read about the persistence of the hustlers / touts. I have dealt with such people in my trips and have more or less succeeded in ignoring them. However, from my readings it seems that the hustlers / touts in Cartagena are probably the worst in the world. I sympathize with them as I understand that they are poor and just trying to earn a living. However, if they are not peddling something I want then I'm not interested and that has been my attitude everywhere I go. I can successfully navigate my way around them no matter how persistent they are; however, there is one thing I just cannot tolerate and would make me lose it and that is if I am touched by the tout while I am ignoring him. It has happened to me (though very rarely) and when it does I am challenged to the limit to control myself. I would not like to experience an occasion when the blood goes to my head and I react violently. Is this a practice by hustlers in Cartagena?

How's tabogo for mongering? Its been on my list for a while now, Cartagena is fun, most likely on beach you will not be touched, but at night walking around clubs and such they are very aggressive and some can be very aggressive and touchy-feely and like you I hate it and it triggers me also to the point where like you can ruin your night! But you probably should not let it stop you from seeing a beautiful city, I used to love going their but been their done that, any information on tabogo will be very much appreciated! Stay safe travel fun bud!

[Turgid]

I have decided that all my post covid trips are to be on a beach. I have already done Tobago and Boca Chica. I have Jaco, Cancun and Cartagena in my sights. I have never been to Cartagena and have read about the persistence of the hustlers / touts. I have dealt with such people in my trips and have more or less succeeded in ignoring them. However, from my readings it seems that the hustlers / touts in Cartagena are probably the worst in the world. I sympathize with them as I understand that they are poor and just trying to earn a living. However, if they are not peddling something I want then I'm not interested and that has been my attitude everywhere I go. I can successfully navigate my way around them no matter how persistent they are; however, there is one thing I just cannot tolerate and would make me lose it and that is if I am touched by the tout while I am ignoring him. It has happened to me (though very rarely) and when it does I am challenged to the limit to control myself. I would not like to experience an occasion when the blood goes to my head and I react violently. Is this a practice by hustlers in Cartagena?

[RamDavidson84]

Cartagena has to be done right.

Having to get a short time hotel every time you want to fuck is a pain in the ass and a hassle. Try to get a hotel that allows guests. This will also come at an expense, be prepared to pay higher rates for your room.

The hecklers and beggars are at another level here. I won't return for several years as I have been to so many other places where you can find quality women without having to deal with the guys in Centro trying to get every last cent out of you. I came very close to having problems on a few occaisions because my pride got the better of me and I am a seasoned vet of the game. The last thing I want is an altercation in Colombia over nonsense, but these guys really push the limits. If you have a crew of several dudes you are with who can handle themselves, you will probably be left alone much more.

People hate on Cartagena because of the so-called "Ballers" in the clubs, but they are not the problem. Not even close. It's just that the clubs get packed on the weekends and it's tough just to move around. That is the club scene in general. These guys are not doing anything to ruin the game in my view. Clubs are kinda slow Mon-Wed and the girls are all still there. Hit the clubs up mid week if that is your thing. The weekends, its too crowded to enjoy yourself.

Heat: the fucking heat and humidity is high, be prepared.

Cab Drivers: late night, they will start charging crazy rates and you will have to argue to get a normal price, during the day- 10 k gets you most places.

Price: 400 k per hour, or 600 k multi hour. If a girl wants more, then she had a lot of customers that week and she can gamble the up sell. I did have one girl quote me 300 USD with an entire club full of girls who were going to start at 400 k, obviously I didn't accept her offer.

Girls: a lot of girls who you can tell are full time pros, but there are some very beautiful girls available as well. You need to find what works for you and if you take your time, you will find it in Cartagena. I can't see how anyone could put Cartagena in their top 5 mongering spots. Many spots all over Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica are much better.

[Mojo Bandit]

Headed to Cartagena for the first time Aug 27th to Sept 3rd. Anybody have any good contacts for chicas

You really do not need any contacts for chicas before heading down to Cartagena. It is one of the places that ranks the world for the greatest concentration of pussy for sale. Probably in the top five in the western hemisphere. If you were to get contacts with some chicas before going down there you might even regret it: because after 10 pm or eleven 11 pm. When you walk the clock tower, Dolce Vita and Space are you will see enough chicas. My running opinion right now of Delirium gathered from reports is not good but more recent visiting members may have a differing opinion. There are so many woman that in my opinion if you start contacting chicas even before you arrive you are just going to be limiting your options. And in Cartagena there are too many options to want to be limiting them.

It also depends on your style. For example you asked about "bottle service" - two reasons why I would not do that: first is the old colombain saying "no dar papaya" which literally translates to "don't give papaya" but means do not make yourself a target for thieves and one way that is done is making them envious by flaunting your money. I Know of at least one experienced monger who have gone to Dolce and partied like a rock star and had two super-model chicas promise to to a porn-star style Menage a trois then while one chica went downtown on the boy the other was taking him to the cleaners by taking all his stuff and leaving, soon then the one going down suddenly had to leave while the boy was stark naked and not yet been able to make sense of the situation. My point isn't that everyone who gets bottle service gets robbed so much as it is that these people are the opposite of impressed when we do get bottle service.

Second reason is related to my style of mongering. The other reason I would not get bottle service, and for me this reason is even more practicle. I am searching for that near perfect chica everytime I go out, and I usually find her, so to that end my style is not to plant myself in one spot when I am in Dolce Vita. I cant make it happen sitting in one spot, I have to mover around to make it happen. If I sit in one spot I am just going to experience what happens to me. Because I have shrunk my world down to the perimeter if the table and also my choices. It is a choice between waiting to see what happens to me or staying up and mobile and making what happens to me a choice I make. My experience is that if I want to find that chica the checks off everything on my list like: Her looks, services I want, price point I willing to pay, - then I have to shop around and since Dolce Vita can be a crowded spot it can take time and effort just to get over to where the cutie is standing so I can negotiotiate and then often because that particular cutie does not check all the boxes then I have to go roving for the next target to negotiate with. If I am sitting at a table doing the bottle service thing then I am more likely to attract the wrong people to my table so I prefer to roam around and search for diamond I am looking for.

My style is dependent on the reason I am there and that is to have the highest quality interaction with the chicas that I can but someone else may enjoy the ideal of having bottle service and then just a mediocre experience with a chica. The bottle service experierence to someone else may be as important to them a finding a quality chica is to me. So to each there own

[DTrain228]

Headed to Cartagena for the first time Aug 27th to Sept 3rd. Anybody have any good contacts for chicas or tour guides? Also how much is bottle service at LDV I hear its expensive?

[OakTownPaul]

Oaktown, I am not sure what you want. Bocagrande is the place most mongers go. Thing is the best beaches are not there but on the islands and the boats that go to them are actually closer to the second nice part of the city, Manga. That is where my apartment is. It is safe, quiet, and there are no touts. There are a few hotels but there are some nice condos and Airbnb's there. My favorite part of the hotels was just watching the pelicans do their dive bombing runs.

I have not stayed at the Hilton which I heard was the best but at the Marriott, Intercontinental, and the Dann Cartagena. Of those, I liked the intercontinental the best, but the Marriott is guest friendly.

My favorite restaurant in Cartagena was Di Silvio but I tried a new Italian place and liked it better. The name was Semolina, and it is in the Bocagrande Mall, and they have crazy quick service compared to the other restaurants I have gone to. Another real cool place to hang out and have food and drinks is Las Ramblas Mall. It is outside the city, and as Cartagena can be a little congested, this place is nice because it has plenty of space. Food, music, and drinks were also quite good out there. Persepolis in Bocagrande has good Persian food.

San Felipe castle has amazing views and check it out at sunset. You will be blown away at the beauty on a nice night.

Cartagena is a cool place but I would rank it fifth for mongering behind Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and Barranquilla. The women just wanted too much there IMO. I think the way you do Cartagena is to bring in a woman you like from another city, but that is just me.

Finding the right girl, and then taking her on a vacation trip somewhere else works very well for me. Many good times. As I am going to Bogota in November, I might look into a side trip to Cartagena since I will, by then, better know the lay of the land.

[OakTownPaul]

I want to say that maybe because you have been to Medellin that the term El Centro is throwing you off. Unlike in Medellin where El Centro is the "downtown" or business district. In Cartagena "Centro" is the heart of the historic center of the tourist area. The only person likely to get killed there are the touts (by you!) when they just won't leave you alone. When he says it does not seem as safe as it did in the past he doesn't mean that people are getting stabbed like El Centro in Medellin, he just means the overall ambiance is just more overall sketchy than it used to be.

I seriously mourn for the Cartagena of ten and fifteen years ago but your right you will never know so it shouldn't matter to you. Whats there today is all that matters and it really is still better than most places in the western hemisphere. With a few exceptions in Colombia and Braziul it probably ranks the top 3- 4 places that has the greatest concentration of hot chicas for sale in a small area.

When I started going to Cartagena it was still a place where mostly Colombians would go for a vacation or a weekend, and I think the touts knew better than to harrass Colombians the same way they harrass gringos. I used be able to walk the length of old town and not get accosted, plenty of art sellers and mimes and all that but they were respectful. So now the touts are so fucking aggressive if someone bothered me that much in the states they might get a bloody nose. They have gotten rediculous and even the fact that they are even allowed to harrass you that much makes you feel unsafe in a way. I may be wrong but I think that is what he means. I have not heard of anyone getting assaulted in the old city.

You do not need an amigo so much as you need earplugs. Just put some headphones on and everytime someone who is not a gorgeous babe seems to want to approach you just point to the headphones and shake your head.

Thank you very much for the clarification, and the description of the positives. (You are right about my mistaken use of El Centro.) If necessary, I will have my headphones with me. Fortunately, though my spanish is extremly limited, I have mastered the art of saying "No, gracias" . And then ghosting any further attempt to talk.

[PerkinWarbeck]

MoJo is right. The touts are unbearable in Centro. I usually stay in Manga, but my favorite restaurants are there. At this point, I don't even get dropped off at the Clock Tower anymore. I have the taxi drop me directly at the restaurant and wait til one comes passes by later to leave. Can't even leisurely walk around during the afternoon / evening without getting accosted. A damn shame.

[Tomasb]

Yes, I did not mean that I feared that I could be assaulted while in El Centro compared to past visits. I only meant that the people hanging out late at night don't have your best interests in mind. It was just a lot more mellow in years past. It's also a lot more difficult to find places to bring girls as most of the top hotels and even AIR accommodations are a lot more strict about allowing non registered guests to enter your room. However, there are some that don't restrict guests but you have to dig and sometimes I suspect you find out their restrictions upon your arrival as they are not posted in their reservation information. I have also been told that the prison penalties for assaulting tourists is significantly more than if they assaulted or robbed a local Colombian citizen.

I don't think that I could go to the extreme of finding two hotels to stay, one for you only, and the other for your lady guest as there are not that many budget hotels in El Centro anymore. I used to stay at a place just steps from the Clocktower and they were charging about $20 per night only a few years ago. Now, it's $60 and they are listed on Booking.com. Albeit they did renovate the hotel but I was fine with the prior set up because the nightly or short time price was cheap. They install a flat screen tv and a new shower and all of a sudden the price triples. I recall some of the Clocktower girls used this hotel for short term assignations though not sure with their new pricing structure if that still works price wise. I can see a scenario where a hotel such as the one I mentioned has a vacant room and the desk clerk rents it to a friend of theirs for an hour or so and gets a cut.

Anyway, it is what it is. I still like to go but yearn for the older days when life there was a bit more simple.

[Elvis 2008]

I appreciate your words of wisdom. But like all good advice, I will ignore the most important part (about Cartagena's diminishment) and go anyway. It's already booked, and it will be my first time, so I will not know any better. LOL (I arrive August 28, and will stay 9 days.).

However, I am taking note of your comments about El Centro. Unless I am with an amigo, I will probably not venture downtown until after I get my feet wet. I am not a rookie, as I consider myself to be a "moderately" experienced traveler in this space, but I know when to be cautious. (I have been to Thailand (Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket and Chang Mai), the DR (Sosua / PP, Santiago and Santa Domingo) Spain (Barcelona and Ibiza), Mexico (Tijuana and PDC) Kenya (Nairobi and Mombassa), Costa Rica (SJ and Jaco) and Medellin, Colombia. However, this being my first time in Cartagena, and I never forget that I have "gringo" pasted on my forehead, I have no spanish skills, and I am no longer the hunter (like back home) - I am the hunted.

When I go to new place, like I am now, I will frequently stay at multiple places just to get a feel for the various options. I will also overbook, so that I can make some changes once I see the City. There are times when I will end up paying for two different hotel rooms for the same night. (This is usually a cheap hotel, where I know I can bring someone home, and then another "nicer" hotel.) What I like about a good hotel is that it helps conjure a GFE. (Which is what I like.).

Oaktown, I am not sure what you want. Bocagrande is the place most mongers go. Thing is the best beaches are not there but on the islands and the boats that go to them are actually closer to the second nice part of the city, Manga. That is where my apartment is. It is safe, quiet, and there are no touts. There are a few hotels but there are some nice condos and Airbnb's there. My favorite part of the hotels was just watching the pelicans do their dive bombing runs.

I have not stayed at the Hilton which I heard was the best but at the Marriott, Intercontinental, and the Dann Cartagena. Of those, I liked the intercontinental the best, but the Marriott is guest friendly.

My favorite restaurant in Cartagena was Di Silvio but I tried a new Italian place and liked it better. The name was Semolina, and it is in the Bocagrande Mall, and they have crazy quick service compared to the other restaurants I have gone to. Another real cool place to hang out and have food and drinks is Las Ramblas Mall. It is outside the city, and as Cartagena can be a little congested, this place is nice because it has plenty of space. Food, music, and drinks were also quite good out there. Persepolis in Bocagrande has good Persian food.

San Felipe castle has amazing views and check it out at sunset. You will be blown away at the beauty on a nice night.

Cartagena is a cool place but I would rank it fifth for mongering behind Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and Barranquilla. The women just wanted too much there IMO. I think the way you do Cartagena is to bring in a woman you like from another city, but that is just me.